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“Where Is Society Going?” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – June 11,
2017 Centenary United Methodist Church Psalm 33:1-12; Matthew 9:9-13
Not too long ago, Lois and I were having dinner after church at
the North Rock Restaurant.
One of the staff members, Tony, was engaging us in conversation. He
really enjoys talking to customers as people quickly learn. No matter
what the topic, Tony will have some thoughts about it. While we were talking, a song came over the restaurant's sound
system that took me back to my teenage years.
We began talking about the memories that come to mind when we
hear those oldies but goodies.
We wondered if fifty years from now today's teenagers will have
the same response to their music as we do to ours. Tony asked about our church. I
mentioned our small attendance.
And he commented that his attendance was equally small on Sundays
at the restaurant. Then he
added, "People used to come here and enjoy an eating experience.
Today, they sit at the table and stare at their cell phones even
after their food has been served."
He asked, "What is so important that it cannot wait until after
they eat their dinner?" We laughed at the reality of how our lives are constantly being
impacted by distractions that appear to demand our immediate attention.
Our discussion may not have led us to any profound conclusions.
No doubt our parents were asking the same questions about our
music, our values and our goals in life.
Keeping a
peaceful and a highly energized positive outlook on our life-experiences
does not come easily for most of us, particularly at the accelerated
pace of today's events that tend to be presented in a manner that evokes
our anxieties and fear.
Today's Gospel lesson from Matthew described the time when Jesus
and his disciples were invited to have a meal at Matthew's home.
Since the host was a tax collector by trade, he undoubtedly
invited numerous colleagues to attend the meal as well.
When visiting teachers came to the homes of high profile personalities, it was a social occasion. Every available person in the community could come, eat and experience a question and answer period with the visiting rabbi. Matthew wrote, "Many tax collectors and other outcasts
came and joined everyone at the table. Seeing this, some of the
attending Pharisees asked the disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with
such people?" The disciples
did not have an immediate answer. Overhearing
the question, Jesus answered, "People who are well do not need a
doctor." (Matthew 9:12) Jesus followed up his comment by asking the Pharisees to explain
the meaning of the words that were spoken by one of
I have sent my
prophets to you with this one message:
'What I want from you is
constant love and not your animal sacrifices.'
I would rather that people accept my guidance and follow it
rather than burning animals to honor to me. (Hosea 6:5f) The people that came to Matthew's home were a composite of
individuals that could easily make up a similar gathering in our
society. The people living
in Jesus' day had to make the same choices just as we have to make.
During our lives, we have to live and adjust to circumstances
that present themselves. We
do not have control over many of life's events, but we can
control our responses. Today, our society
lives with instant knowledge of events happening all over the world.
This is new to our generation. If gun shots are fired in any nation,
those shots are instantly heard around the world.
Every news agency wants to be first with the story so they
interrupt their broadcasts with "Breaking News." News reporters are
instantly dispatched to the site for on-the-spot coverage and the story
lingers on our airwaves for three or four days until we are weary of
hearing about it. This has
become the new normal.
While reading the Washington Post several weeks ago, I came upon
an article that described what is happening in the public junior and
senior high schools in There are numerous reasons for the departure of these teachers.
Many students who could not read or write, do simple division and
multiplication math problems have been advanced to higher grade levels.
Teachers could not maintain
order in their classrooms. Students were often defiant, threatening and
violently opinionated. The
parents of students who want to learn have enrolled their children in
magnet or parochial schools. If we thought about it, we could develop a list of problems like
this while adding toxic political confrontations, suicide bombers, the
rogue leader who wants his nation to become a nuclear power, the
increasing opioid prescription drug addiction among adults, the rampant
increases in diabetes and the small number of beds in our new hospital.
The list of social issues that need long-term solutions is nearly
endless. When media outlets feed us daily stories like this, the resulting
cloud of negativity can blind
us to what school systems are doing to better equip their students for
life and what countless people are accomplishing to bring solutions to
what troubles most of us.
We really have to pick and
choose from the menu of events that are daily paraded in front of us.
Two years ago, a couple was visiting Centenary from the States.
Lois and I offered to take them home after the service so they
would not have to take a taxi.
Their bed and breakfast was near the Reef's Resort so we stopped
there for dinner. As we were wandering through the enormous maze of food offered by
the Reef's sumptuous brunch buffet, the woman said to me, "Oh, I would
love to pig-out on this food
but I can't eat it any more.
I have learned that my fat cells also love it."
We came to the section of the buffet that featured shrimp, clams,
lobster claws, and calamari.
She commented, "Here is another one of my former weaknesses.
My intolerance for many forms of
seafood will not allow me to eat it anymore without my paying a
biological price later on in my day." After we said our
good-byes, I thought about how she had navigated through the various
tables of a vast assortment of tempting foods.
Living is like going to a large
buffet where we have to choose what to eat and what we need to leave on
the serving tables. As we are evolving into more mature adults, we are making small
choices all along the way. The world continues to go on as it always has
since the beginning of creation. Our responsibility is to make
the choices that produce a life that is meaningful, purposeful and
worthwhile to us. All of us are
doing just that. We are
the only ones that have both
hands on the steering wheels
of our vehicles. We thoroughly understand that we live in a world where some of us
follow the path of least resistance while others among us are very
intentional in our choices just like the woman who chose what she needed
to eat. What separates people
who choose wisely from those who choose from a need for instant
gratification? When I was a little boy, what fascinated me far more than many of
my toys were magnets. My
imagination was fueled by the invisible force that mysteriously attracts
and repels other magnets. What
was it that caused the needle in my compass to point to the north?
We can hardly imagine what this
discovery accomplished for navigating on land and sea.
Magnetic energy is invisible yet
the evidence of its existence is clearly there.
Spirit
is another mysterious energy that dwells within us. Interestingly
enough, when
finely tuned, our
spirits
have the same properties as magnets.
There was something about Jesus that attracted people
from all walks of life to dine with him at Matthew's table. Jesus felt
at home and comfortable with everyone.
His love of people attracted others. The
spirit of the Pharisees,
however, developed energy that actually repelled people to the point
where some of these others
were labeled as outcasts. It just may be that societies are not designed to go anywhere in
particular.
In every generation, our
societies have provided us with an environment where we make choices
that become the building blocks for who we are choosing to become.
In this sense, all societies provide people with the same
opportunities.
Since each of us is
the chief architect of our
own lives, we will always encounter people that are clearly beyond where
we are emotionally and spiritually. We will also encounter people who
have reached a comfortable plateau where they are choosing to stay.
People who have learned to sow
seeds of love, compassion and
kindness in the gardens
of everyone often carry themselves with a lot of
magnetic enthusiasm.
The word
enthusiasm comes from a Greek
word meaning being filled with
God. Those who sow bountifully will also reap bountifully. The more
risks we take, the more varied adventures and opportunities will come
into our path. When we arrive at this point in our lives, our orientation toward
life dramatically changes. (John 13:35) We quickly learn that we would
always be welcomed and needed in every society that exists.
Societies are never in short
supply of opinionated people.
What all societies need are people who accept everyone just as they find
them. We have no need to judge others. Others do that all by themselves
and they do it with surgical precision.
All that we need to do is show up in people's lives in the same
way that Jesus did when he was at the table with everyone from Pharisees
to outcasts. Let us strive to
become magnets that attract
others to a flow of energy that is creative and healing just as Jesus
asked us to do. (Matthew 28:19) CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER What a comfort it is, O God, to know that you are always giving us opportunities to grow. Yet our expressions of love are often mixed with personal needs that can prevent us from seeing opportunities. You have given us our wonderful world and have set us free to enjoy it. Jesus taught us to share our love while we still cling to our need for justice. We are humbled when we realize that Jesus saved the world by forgiving every form of injustice. Teach us how to live with the understanding that truth never needs defending. Amen.
THE PASTORAL
PRAYER Merciful God,
once again we have gathered in remembrance of our Sabbath day that you
directed us to observe with rest. We know that we need to slow our
pace but we make excuses for why we find that hard to do. We confess
that we never know what may happen to us as a result of our coming to
church today. There are times when the familiar patterns of
worship are pierced by a new understanding that comes like a shaft of
light that tells us, "this lesson is for me." We thank you for
what it means to be a part of our church family.
Because of our community of faith, we have learned to laugh a
little more. There are moments when we do not take ourselves or
our problems with the urgency that we once did. When we see
the trusting, nurturing spirits of others whose loses and reversals in
life have often been much greater than our own, our spirits are
mysteriously healed by their presence. When we bring our aloneness
into a community of friends, our spirits experience a harmony we often
cannot easily define nor find elsewhere. We thank you for the responsibility that is now ours to pass on the torch that the Master has given to us. We are always teaching others who we are by what we do, what we say and how we think. We thank you for the mixture of personalities that have helped to light our path even when they were unaware of doing so. We pray these thoughts of gratitude and thanksgiving through the loving spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray. . . |